Cheap Trick – Cheap Trick (New Vinyl)

NEW LP

New sealed copy. 2013 reissue. Remastered from the original analog tapes.

Cheap Trick is the debut studio album by the American rock band Cheap Trick, released in 1977. It was released under Epic Records and produced by Jack Douglas, a frequent collaborator of the band.

Most of the songs have a more raw sound akin to hard rock bands of the period compared to the group's later more polished power pop style, and the song lyrics deal with more extreme subject matter than later albums. For instance, "The Ballad of TV Violence (I'm Not the Only Boy)" is about serial killer Richard Speck, "Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School" is about an ephebophile, and "Oh, Candy" is about a photographer friend of the band, Marshall Mintz, who committed suicide.

The album was generally well-received by critics with favorable comparisons to the Beatles and the Who, with critics likening Robin Zander's vocals to John Lennon's. Charles M. Young, writing for Rolling Stone, said the album had a "heavy emphasis on basics with a strain of demented violence" and that the lyrics "run the gamut of lust, confusion and misogyny, growing out of rejection and antiauthoritarian sentiments about school—all with an element of wit." Ira Robbins of Trouser Press noted the album's "wall-of-guitar sound" and said the band was "sarcastic, smart, nasty, powerful, tight, casual, and destined for something great."

TRACKLIST:

A1 Hot Love 
A2 Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace 
A3 He's A Whore 
A4 Mandocello 
A5 The Ballad Of T.V. Violence (I'm Not The Only Boy) 
B1 Elo Kiddies 
B2 Daddy Should Have Stayed In High School 
B3 Taxman, Mr. Thief 
B4 Cry, Cry 
B5 Oh, Candy